The Italian coach spoke to the team at San Siro
All. They are all there. Brazil and Argentina. France and Spain. England and Portugal. Cape Verde, er, and Germany, which joined on Monday by throttling Slovakia. Germany with whom we crossed paths: if we had won in the Nations quarter-finals, we would have ended up in their group and Norway would have been Nagelsmann’s bogeyman. The meaning of all this is that only Italy is missing from the appeal, with Denmark the only one of the top 25 in the FIFA ranking awaiting trial: the others all have world passports. More poetically: the only world champion who hasn’t made it yet. Our playoffs begin tomorrow at the Zurich draw. The kick-off is not on March 26, but immediately. What we will play is a mental game.
Speech to the group
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Gattuso understood it immediately. Upon returning to the San Siro changing rooms, after those four goals which still hurt, the coach called the team together and not to list blame and responsibilities. Not even applause, of course, but simply a shock. A return to reality. “We are strong. You are strong. Do you want to convince yourself of this?”, said the coach who cannot understand the contradictions. All the athletic data is positive: we are trained, in great condition, we can run. GPS doesn’t lie. But the psychological stability can at least be reviewed: we play with the fear of conceding a goal and never being able to recover. Quite a problem.
Mind games
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We had already seen this against Israel, but when we overturned a 2-4 draw into an almost epic 5-4. There was no lack of thrill in Estonia: at 3-0, having conceded a goal, we began to look over our shoulders and lose our balance. Even worse against Norway: the 1-1 draw in Nusa knocked us down. In addition to the Scandinavian superiority there are in fact errors, turnovers, wrong positioning, distractions between the second and third goals due to substitutions. Mentally out. The coach insisted: “You have to believe it.” Explaining that, even if you concede a goal, there is plenty of time to recover. Gattuso has seen it on the pitch and on the bench and is too honest not to recognize that the twelve playoff rivals are not big names. They are not stronger than us. “But we have to believe it.” Training the head, in these months, before the legs.
Church recovery
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Searching for names is complicated by the small number of selectable ones. Modern coaches don’t have the wealth of Bearzot and Sacchi. Already with Lippi we talked about percentages of Italians. Now we dig to the bottom of the barrel. Chiesa’s return would be very important, given the problems on the flanks where Orsolini and Zaccagni do not yet have international status and Politano, the most complete tactically and in terms of attitude, has physical limitations that drain him after an hour. Mancini’s Chiesa would be a disaster, “our Sinner”, said Spalletti. But the real Chiesa isn’t there and Gattuso, who has done everything to recover him, doesn’t want to force a return precisely for the sake of “believing in it”. When Chiesa feels ready then he will return. The doubts that worry him for now would be counterproductive.
Tactical balances
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However, the wingers are important both when playing with the 3-5-2 and with the 4-4-2. We have four reliable backs, Cambiaso, Dimarco, Udogie when he gets rid of his physical problems and Spinazzola who can always guarantee half an hour at the highest level and tactical knowledge. For a credible 4-3-3, attacking wingers would also be needed, but the double center forward solution, which is positive even in difficult moments, would be lost. Perhaps a balanced solution could be the 4-1-3-2 seen (and corrected during the race) with Israel. 1) With Locatelli in front of the defense, to transform the three-man defense into a setup, without closing to five as happened with Norway who put three forwards to force us down. 2) Three midfielders: Tonali who centers on the left to advance Dimarco; Politano who widens to the right to let Cambiaso “enter”; and Barella – not in the smaller version of San Siro – balancer in the center.
New names
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In addition to tactics, more than tactics, names are needed, but there is no gold mine. Zaniolo is no longer the winger he was before the injury but a second central striker, a role covered. And he must also integrate better into the group. The staff hopes that the Premier will propose Kayode, Coppola and Udogie in an “English” version for March. Phenomena are not seen. However, Gattuso believes in it: if the players believe in it, it can be done. Without deluding ourselves into thinking we are like Spain and France. At the World Cup, in this case, we will go as an outsider and that is what we can realistically afford today.
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